(ANSA) - PRISTINA - Kosovo's president Hashim Thaci has urged his country not to ''be afraid'' of possible indictments filed by the special court set up to tackle alleged war crimes by ethnic Albanians against Serbs during Kosovo's conflict in late nineties. The struggle conducted by Kosovo Liberation Army was ''clean and necessary'', he said and was conducted for'' freedom and independence ''.

Thaci, along with Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, was in the past one of the leaders of the UCK/KLA, the Albanian independentist guerrilla who fought against the Serbs in the conflict in the late nineties. The special court, established in 2015 and based in The Hague, has just begun its activity and is now ready for first indictments. Thaci initially joined the initiative taken by 43 Kosovar deputies for the abolition of this Court but - after the harsh criticism expressed by the US, the EU and international organizations - has changed its position in recent days, saying that the Court 'cannot and will not be abolished'.

''I do not know who will be accused and what the charges will be, but there is no reason to be afraid, our struggle was a just war'' said Thaci, cited by the media in Pristina. The president added that he is ''very proud'' of what he did during the war as a KLA commander. (ANSA).